10 Wrestling Facts We Didn't Know Last Week (Jan 3)

5. Yokozuna Deliberately Sandbagged Ahmed Johnson's Slam

Ahmed had some stifling internal pressure to deal with during the first few months of his WWF run too.

On the same podcast, Johnson revealed that Yokozuna wasn't exactly receptive to the idea that Ahmed would slam him on Monday Night Raw. When Yoko learned of the booking plans, he walked up to his new peer and said he wouldn't help him perform the move. That meant Johnson would have to pick up approx 600lbs of dead weight.

Somehow, he managed it, but it's clear to see from the video clip above that Yokozuna wasn't playing ball. Compare this slam with the one Lex Luger and he worked in 1993, for example; Yoko went up like a feather for Lex, and fed into the move. Meanwhile, he sandbagged the crap out of Ahmed, almost as though he was testing him.

Yoko was impressed by Ahmed's natural strength and the pair became riding buddies after working together a few more times. Johnson is fully aware that failing to slam the big man could've ended his babyface run early.